by Jude Watson
interested in the secret squad. Anakin had the feeling that Obi-Wan didn't
think they were involved in Gillam's disappearance.
But Anakin felt differently. And here, he could follow his own rules.
All his life, he had known only two ways to live: as a slave, or as a
Jedi. As a young boy on Tatooine he had looked to the Jedi as the most free
beings in the galaxy. Even before he knew much about them, he had dreamed
of being a Jedi.
But was being a Jedi being free? Or had he traded one form of slavery
for another?
The thought was so shocking that Anakin couldn't face it once he
dredged it up. He tucked it away in the place in his mind that he did not
visit. It was a place where fear ruled. He never went there, not even in
the middle of the night when he woke, his head full of dreams, and did not
know where he was or why his mother was not near.
Anakin put his comlink back into his tunic. For the first time since
entering the school, returning to comm silence did not make him feel cut
off. He was glad not to answer to anyone, even for twenty-four hours. He
headed out to find Marit and the squad, where there were no Masters to
chide him.
CHAPTER TEN
Frustration boiled inside Obi-Wan. He could not trace a connection
between Sano Sauro and Rana Halion. He was working on it; Tyro was working
on it. The best researchers at the Temple were working on it, including
Jocasta Nu, the Jedi Archivist. Though she usually demanded that Jedi
Knights do their own research, she agreed to help Obi-Wan since the matter
was so pressing. A young boy's life could be at stake. The image of Gillam
still tore at Obi-Wan's heart - the way he'd clutched the blanket around
his shoulders, the courage he tried to convey.
None of these experts had come up with anything. And Obi-Wan was
plagued by the feeling that he was missing something. Something obvious.
He retreated to his private quarters to think. He felt more in need of
a Master than Anakin. He wished someone could give him the direction he was
looking for.
In his reports from the Leadership School, Anakin had sounded self-
sufficient, completely in charge of the situation. Obi-Wan didn't know if
the secret squad was involved in Gillam's disappearance, but he was proud
of his Padawan for infiltrating it so quickly. He just wished he hadn't
heard something in Anakin's voice that reminded him of his own past. When
he had been a Padawan, he had briefly left the Jedi after meeting a rebel
group on Melida/Daan called The Young. To him, The Young had passion and
commitment and an important cause. When Qui-Gon had forbidden him to stay
and help them, he had turned his back on the Jedi. It had made complete
sense to him then. He had felt so right - and he had been so wrong.
Inner balance. It took experience to know when the wrong instinct had
made it careen off-kilter.
But Anakin was not the same. Being a Jedi meant everything to Anakin.
Obi-Wan returned to his more pressing problem. He stared down at the
security report once again. What was he missing? He had a feeling that Qui-
Gon would know. His Master was always able to combine emotion with logic to
reach the correct conclusion. Find the emotion behind the logic - or the
illogic, Qui-Gon would say. If you can't see the solution, try to see the
emotion. But if something seemed logical to Obi-Wan, it was difficult to
see the illogical heart of it.
He heard Qui-Gon's voice clearly in his head If something is not
possible, then it did not happen.
Obi-Wan stood up so suddenly that the report slid off his lap.
Security wasn't breached. Gillam never left the academy campus!
He was still there. But was he alive... or dead? And who took him?
Ferus had reported that Reymet had hinted that he knew how to visit
places he wasn't supposed to go within the school campus. What if Reymet
wasn't just trying to impress Ferus? What if Reymet had seen something that
night?
Obi-Wan shook his head. It didn't seem logical that. Reymet would keep
silent when the life of a fellow student was at stake. Reymet might be a
sneak, but he had no reason to suppose he would support a kidnapper.
Obi-Wan had never attended a regular school, but the Temple was like
one in many ways. He thought back to his own training. Why would Reymet
keep silent?
The answer roared into his brain.
Because adults didn't take Gillam. Students did. A boy Reymet's age
wouldn't turn in fellow students. What had Anakin told him students called
someone who snitched?
If Reymet told, he'd be a womp fink.
His comlink signaled. Hoping it was Anakin, he snatched it and
activated it.
He felt the thud of disappointment when he heard Jocasta Nu's voice.
Unless Anakin contacted him on the emergency channel, he would have to wait
until their next scheduled communication the following day.
"I have traced the payment for you, even though you were perfectly
capable of doing so yourself, if you had paid attention to my instructions,
" Jocasta Nu's crisp voice said. "There was a credit payment from Rana
Halion to an account on Andara. The account is anonymous, but through a
series of traces I've discovered that it is used by that secret renegade
squad the Council is so concerned about. A boy named Rolai Frac set it up.
An impressive use of cloaking maneuvers hid his identity. I've rarely seen
better."
"Thank you, Madame Nu," Obi-Wan said fervently.
"Next time, you will do your own research, Master Kenobi. I do not
have time to indulge your many requests, and I - "
"Yes, Madame Nu," Obi-Wan said. "May the Force be with you. You may
have just given me the key to find the boy."
"That's good, then. May the Force be with you," she answered, the
disapproval fading from her voice.
It was the confirmation he needed. Anakin's hunch that the secret
squad was involved was right after all. Gillam had been kidnapped by his
fellow students on the secret squad. But they hadn't done it on their own -
Rana Halion had arranged it. Whether Sano Sauro was involved, he might
never know.
Obi-Wan hurried out of his quarters toward the vehicle requisition
area. He felt as though he should kick himself down the hall. He had
chastised Anakin about inner balance while he was losing his own! His need
to investigate Sano Sauro had led him to make assumptions and go off on a
dangerous tack. He had wanted Sauro to be responsible, so he had tried to
build a case around it.
He had been so wrong. He had lost sight of his goal: to find the
missing boy. The answer wasn't at the Senate. It was on Andara.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Anakin left his room well before the call for the morning meal. There
was no hologram on Marit's door. He hesitated, fighting his urge to knock.
It was unusual for the squad not to meet again. There had been several
things to resolve. And he'd had the feeling that Marit was avoiding him.
He left without knocking, however, and continued down the hall. Maybe
> Ferus had some new information. Anakin was beginning to get impatient. Days
were passing, and they were no closer to finding Gillam.
He was almost at Ferus's door when he saw the door to the athletic
storeroom slide open. Rolai stepped out.
Anakin quickly retreated back around the corner. He peered around the
wall and saw Tulah, Hurana, and Ze hurrying out behind Rolai. They all
disappeared around the corner.
Anakin strode forward and pushed open the door. Marit was just tucking
her datapad under her arm. She looked at him, startled.
"What's going on?" he demanded. "I thought I was in the squad. Why am
I being left out?"
"We don't know if we can completely trust you yet, Anakin," Marit said
reluctantly.
"You've accepted a new mission, haven't you?" Anakin guessed.
Marit nodded, biting her lip.
Exasperated, Anakin turned on his heel. "Fine. I'm out."
"Anakin, wait!" Marit put her hand on his arm.
"It's Rolai, isn't it? He doesn't want me in the squad."
"No, Rolai is the one who wants you on the mission," Marit said. "It's
just that I think it's dangerous, and it might not be the right way to
start."
"Just tell me, and let me decide," Anakin said.
"It's a mission very close by," she said. "Right here in the Andaran
system. You might not know this, but there's a countermovement here."
"I've heard something about it," Anakin said.
She gave him a keen look. "How do you stand on the issue?"
Anakin shrugged. "I don't know enough about it."
"Andara is the largest and richest planet in the system," Marit said.
"As a result, it has grabbed the best trade routes and built up its
manufacturing and exporting to the detriment of the other planets in the
system. They aren't fairly represented by their Senator. They can't get
what they need from the Senate because they don't have a voice."
"That doesn't seem fair," Anakin said.
"It's not. A representative of the countermovement came to us and
asked for our help."
"Who?"
"You don't need to know that yet."
Anakin started for the door again.
"All right!" Marit's voice was amused, and she was smiling when he
turned. "You're very tough."
He grinned. "Yeah. But isn't that why you recruited me?"
"It's Rana Halion, the leader of leria. She approached us through
Rolai. The countermovement is willing to negotiate with Berm Tarturi, but
the Senator hasn't taken them seriously enough. They want to show him how
powerful they are."
Rana Halion! This could be the connection Obi-Wan was looking for.
"How?" Anakin asked
"They want to conduct a passive strike on the Andaran security
transport landing platform," Marit said. "Passive strike?"
"We're just going to penetrate their airspace and then get out. Buzz
the starfighters. Show Tarturi that we could have destroyed his fleet if
we'd wanted to. That way he'd be forced to join negotiations. We need to
get in and get out quickly. There could be some antispacecraft fire." She
hesitated.
Anakin waited.
"We were going to vote on whether to include you tonight," Marit said.
Anakin said nothing. He had learned from Obi-Wan that not asking a
question sometimes got you more information.
"We need a pilot," Marit said. "Hurana is good, but she's not as good
as she thinks she is. She takes too many chances. We need a lead pilot. But
this won't be on a simulator. leria is loaning us the air transport. I
don't expect you've ever flown a starfighter, have you?"
"As a matter of fact, I have," Anakin said.
"Are you as good in a starfighter as you are in a swoop?"
" Better."
"I can talk to them... convince the others... if you're sure you want
to go."
"I'm sure," Anakin said. He wanted to go on the mission. If the
planets in the Andaran system were being exploited, they should have a
voice in their destiny. Marit's ideas made sense to him. He had been a
witness to the greed of Senators. It sounded as though leria needed help.
"Well, I'm not authorized to tell you that you can go," Marit said.
She grinned. "But you're on board. We're scheduled to leave tomorrow."
Elation roared through Anakin. Then he realized something startling.
He hadn't been glad because of the Jedi mission. He'd been glad because he
wanted to go. Not for the Jedi. For himself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Anakin was filled with excitement about the coming mission. He had a
strong feeling that not only would he help the Andaran system, he would
also discover the key to Gillam's disappearance. Rana Halion must be behind
it. Her cause might be just, but her methods could be ruthless. Anakin felt
sure that Gillam was on leria.
He saw Ferus in the hall between classes and signaled that he needed
to talk to him. They met in Ferus's room and closed the door. They had a
few minutes before the midday meal before they needed to pass the
checkpoint to the dining hall.
Anakin quickly filled in Ferus on what had happened.
Ferus frowned. "You told Marit that you would go?" "I think I should,"
Anakin said. "I still have a feeling about Gillam."
"That's fine," Ferus said. "But penetrating a planet's airspace? You
can't do that."
"No one will be hurt."
"How can you be sure of that? Are you saying that no one will fire
their laser cannons? Are you saying that if they fire on you or the others,
you won't fire back? Think about it, Anakin! And what about the reaction in
the Senate? This will be seen as an unprovoked attack on Andara."
"Not unprovoked," Anakin argued. "Senator Tarturi refuses to negotiate
a compromise. This will force him to."
Ferus shook his head. "Jedi can't take part in such things. Have you
told Obi-Wan this?"
"No," Anakin admitted. "Our next scheduled communication isn't until
tonight."
"We can use the emergency signaling system," Ferus said.
"But that could blow our cover! We're on comm silence. The school
could trace the frequency."
"We have to risk it," Ferus said. "I can't believe that you even
considered going without consulting him. Even you should know that - "
"Even me?" Anakin took a step toward Ferus, angry now. "What does that
mean, Ferus?"
Ferus went very still. "A personal argument is not productive," he
said stiffly. "Will you meet me later and contact Obi-Wan?"
Anakin counted several beats of his tripping heart. He accepted his
anger and tried to let it go. He pictured it leaving him like a black storm
cloud blown by a high wind, but traces of it clung to him and he could not
shake it off.
"Yes," he said reluctantly.
He left and hurried toward the dining hall. He sat with Marit and
Hurana. Hurana was quiet, but Marit was in high spirits. They did not talk
about the mission ahead, but the secret lay between them, giving a charge
to their conversation. He could see that Marit had accepted him fully into
the squad. She trusted him now.
But you're
going to betray that trust.
Was he? He hoped not. But the time was coming when he would have to
leave the school and the squad.
Anakin went to his next class so that he would not be missed and
compromise the squad. Then he faked an illness and started toward the med
clinic. Their emergency plan was for Ferus to also fake a reason to leave
class. They were to meet in his room.
Ferus wasn't there. Anakin waited, watching the clock, knowing that he
was pushing his luck. When Ferus didn't appear, Anakin hurried to his next
class. He would see Ferus there, and he hoped to get a chance to ask him
why he had insisted on a meeting he didn't show up for. Maybe he was busy
polishing his utility belt.
Anakin took his usual seat. He glanced over, but Ferus's seat was
empty. The professor began, but Anakin couldn't listen. Ferus's seat
remained empty. Suddenly, Anakin was seriously worried.
After class, Anakin walked quickly through the halls. He searched the
library, Ferus's room, and all the classrooms. He searched the athletic
fields and the research centers and the computer labs. He casually asked
